sunnuntai 15. huhtikuuta 2018

Weekend photos

This time I'll just upload some photos. I went hiking in Divoka Sarka and to see cherry blossoms. Nothing I can write about a lot, so it's mostly pics this time.

Luckily I was a good Finn and went to see the cherries one day earlier than the official cherry blossom viewing. I guess some of the blossoms are already gone today and the weather was nicer yesterday, too.


There is a small hill around Petrinske Sady and on top of the hill there is a fake Eiffel tower. The tower is taller than the real Eiffel if you count the hill, too.

This is Divoka Sarka, it's a huge nature reserve near Prague 6, reaching all the way to the airport. Basically I could have walked home from there had I only known which way to go.

This plant is blooming now, no idea what it is. Tell me, the ones who have the knowledge.

There are also these violet and white flowers, don't know what they are either. I saw people picking some green leaves that looked suspiciously similar to lilies of the valley. Full bags of those leaves left the forest. I hope they were not lilies of the valley and if they were, I hope they will not end up in someone's soup.



Viikonloppu värikuvina

Tällä kertaa teen vaan yksinkertaisen kuvapostauksen. Kävin viikonloppuna pienellä retkellä Divoka Sarkassa ja Petrinske Sadyssa katsomassa kirsikankukkia. Ei sen ihmeellisempää.


Onneksi olin hyvänä suomalaisena päivää etuajassa kirsikankukkaretkelläni (Facebook mainosti kirsikankukkia sunnuntaille), varmaan tänään osa on jo karissut ja toisekseen eilen oli paljon kivempi sää.



Petrinske Sadyn luona on pieni kukkula, jolla topottaa valheellinen Eiffel-torni. Torni on korkeampi kuin aito Eiffel, jos vuorikin lasketaan mukaan.

Divoka Sarkan maisemia. Divoka Sarka on suuri luonnonpuisto, joka ulottuu lentokentän liepeiltä aina tänne meidän Praha 6:n asti. Olisin siis voinut kävellä kotiin, jos olisin vaan tiennyt, mihin suuntaan lähteä.

Tällainen keltainen pensas kukkii nyt, mikä lienee, kertokaa te viisaammat.

Ja sitten kukkii nämä violetit ja valkoiset pikku kukat, en tiedä mitä nämä ovat. Sen lisäksi näin, kuinka porukka keräsi vihreitä lehtiä, jotka epäilyttävästi näyttivät kielon lehdiltä. Niitä lähti metsästä säkeittäin, mitä sitten lienevätkin, toivottavasti ei ainakaan kieloja ja jos ovatkin, niin toivottavasti ei ainakaan keittöhommiin.


sunnuntai 8. huhtikuuta 2018

Dig up her bones

I have been planning to visit Kutna Hora as long as I have been here. The city is quite near to Prague, it only takes an hour in train to reach it. The old town of Kutna Hora is listed as Unesco World Heritage site. There are massive and impressive cathedrals in the city but probably the most interesting and unique place is the Sedlec ossuary, or the Bone Church.
Saint Barbara's Cathedral was build to show the wealth of the city
I decided to opt for a guided tour in Kutna Hora through meet up. Somehow I feel that trying to do sight-seeing independently always fails. Either I don't even know what to look for or get lost on the way and end up seeing nothing much. I wanted to be sure to see all the interesting spots in Kutna Hora without the fear of missing out on something. Tours also offer an easy way to see places, I didn't need to worry about buying the tickets or spend an hour contemplating which restaurant would be the best for lunch. Quite possibly I will participate in some other tours in Czech Republic later this summer. Anyway, let us return to Kutna Hora.
View of the city 
The city was established around silver mines that made it so wealthy that it even competed for the title of capital city for some time. However, a silver mine doesn't produce silver forever and when the all the silver was gone, the city lost some of its importance and became an ordinary city the biggest employers of which are a tobacco factory and most likely tourism.
Honey, I want to redecorate the house, what about a bone chandelier in the living room?
Saint Barbara's Cathedral and the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and John the Baptist are worth seeing but the main attraction is surely the ossuary. The ossuary is a relatively small chapel surrounded by a cemetery. The cemetery served as the final resting place of victims of epidemic plague and Hussite Wars. When the construction of the chapel began, some old mass graves were exhumed in the process.

This far our story remains normal. After all, it is not at all rare to find an old cemetery under a construction site. However, that is where this story gets a bit twisted when someone got a strange idea of re-purposing these bones that had been accidentally unearthed again as building material for the new chapel. So the project got named "the respectful memorial of the dear departed victims of wars and plague" or something in that vein to make it sound legitimate and the bones were arranged into huge. landslide-like piles, chandeliers and so on. The chapel is disgusting, shocking, unique, interesting, strange and probably that is why people flock there. I feel like a certain about of dark humor was in the air when the bones were being arranged. And think about it, if your job feels unpleasant from time to time, it's nothing in comparison to the job of the poor monk who had the task of decorating the church with bones.


There was a small food festival on Saturday, too, and we had lunch there. After lunch we walked around the city a bit. The weather is already relatively warm during daytime, so all in all the trip was a very interesting experience, one of the best days in Czech Republic this far. I recommend a trip to Kutna Hora in case you are heading to Prague. Hopefully there is no other such bone church anywhere else. And moreover, if you thought afterlife might get boring, worry no more. You never know when your bones will get dug up and put on display. The Egyptian mummies probably never imagined they'd leave Egypt thousands of years later and tour the world. Some of them are now in Prague, I guess I will have to go and see them.

Luiseva viikonloppu

Älkää peljästykö, kyseessä ei ole uuden superdietin kuvaus, vaan päiväreissu naapurikaupunkiin. Olen miettinyt Kutna Horassa käyntiä koko sen ajan, kun olen ollut Prahassa. Kutna Hora on kaupunki noin tunnin junamatkan päässä Prahasta, ja Kutna Horan vanha kaupunki kuuluu Unescon maailmanperintöluetteloon. Kaupungissa on mahtavia katedraaleja ja eniten markkinoitu nähtävyys Sedlecin luukirkko. 
Pyhän Barbaran katedraali, joka rakennettiin näyttämään kaupungin vaurautta
Päätin osallistua opastetulle kierrokselle, jonka löysin Meet up-ryhmästä. Tuntuu, että kun matkailen omatoimisesti, en koskaan näe kaikkia tärkeimpiä nähtävyyksiä koska en edes tiedä, mitä lähtisin etsimään, ja jos tiedänkin, niin sitten kuitenkin eksyn matkalla. Opastetulla kierroksella ei ole sitä vaaraa, ja näkee varmasti kaiken tärkeän kaupungista, ei tarvitse murehtia junalippujen ostamista, eikä kulutttaa tuntia sen miettimiseen, missä syö lounaan. Paljon mahdollisesti lähden toistekin opastetulle kierrokselle Tsekeissä. Mutta joka tapauksessa takaisin Kutna Horaan.
Kaupunkinäkymää
Kaupunki perustettiin aikanaan hopeakaivoksen ympärille, ja se oli jopa niin rikas ja menestyvä, että kilpaili pääkaupungin roolista. Kaupungin varallisuus alkoi kuitenkin vähetä, kun hopeakaivoisten tuotanto ehtyi ja siitä se on pikku hiljaa taantunut tavalliseksi kaupungiksi, jonka suurimpia työnantajia on tupakkatehdas ja oletettavasti turismi.

Pyhän Barbaran ja Neitsyt Marian katedraalit ovat hienoja ja vaikuttavia, mutta luukirkko on varmaan kohde, jonka takia turistit etupäässä kiinnostuvat Kutna Horasta. Luukirkko on kooltaan melko pieni katolinen kappeli, jota ympäröi hautausmaa. Hautausmaalle on aikanaan haudattu niin ruton uhreja kuin sodissa kaatuneitakin. Kun kappelia alettiin rakentaa, hautausmaalta kaivautui esiin joukkohautoihin työnnettyjen ihmisten luita. 
Kulta, haluan luisen kattokruunun olohuoneeseemme..
Okei, tähän asti tarinamme etenee ihan normaalisti, sillä kaikkihan tietävät, että rakennustyömaat joskus sattuu entisen hautausmaan paikalle. Mutta tämän jälkeen tapahtumissa on uniikki käänne, sillä joku keksii, että nämä luut, jotka epähuomiossa ponnahtivat taas maan päälle, olisivat loistavaa rakennusainesta kappeliin. Sen varjolla, että kappelista tuli sotien ja ruton uhrien viimeinen muistopaikka ja leposija, vainajien luista askarreltiin massiivisia maanvyörymän oloisia luuvuoria, kattokruunuja ja muita koristeita. Kappeli on järkyttävä, ällöttävä, outo, uniikki, kiinnostava, epämiellyttävä, mitä muuta. Ehkä juuri sen takia se kiinnostaa ihmisiä.  Paikassa on aistittavissa mielestäni pieni mustan huumorin pilkahdus. Lisäksi, jos oma työsi tuntuu epämiellyttävältä, ajattele sitä munkkiressukkaa, jonka tehtävä oli järjestellä luut kauniisti paikalleen. 

Luuvyörymä 
Kaupungissa oli lauantaina myös pieni ruokafestari, jossa kävimme syömässä lounasta ja sitten käveltiin lähiympäristössä painattelemassa ruokaa. Tsekeissä on jo aika keväinen sää, välillä tarkeni t-paidassa ja päivä oli mukava, yksi parhaimmista päivistä tässä maassa koko aikana. Joten suosittelen, jos matka käy Tsekkeihin, kannattaa ottaa Kutna Hora listalle. Taivaan kiitos maailmassa ei vissiin ole toista vastaavaa luukirkkoa. Ehkä tässä tarinassa on myös toivoa siitä, että elämä kuoleman jälkeen ei välttämättä käykään tylsäksi, sillä koskaan ei tiedä, milloin haalenneet luut kaivetaan kuopastaan ja niistä värkätään kastemaljoja. Ei Egyptin muumiotkaan varmaan koskaan ajatelleet, että monta tuhatta vuotta myöhemmin ne lähtisivät seikkailemaan maailmalle. Niitä on nyt täällä Prahassa, menen varmaan katsomaan niitäkin. 

maanantai 2. huhtikuuta 2018

Easter in Austria

The Sun has appeared again and brought my long-lost motivation back. I realized I haven't one any of the things I planned to do while living in Prague. I decided to stop planning and start acting and booked a short holiday in Austria for Easter weekend. It only takes about 4 hours in a bus to reach Vienna and after the distances in Australia that is nothing. It is a amazing to be able to travel to another country in 4 hours. If you travel 4 hours in Australia you are still in your own backyard and not even very far away from the house.
Renewable energy being created
I like going for drives. Sorry for thinking in such a non-ecological manner but sometimes I miss so much just getting into the car and driving somewhere according to my own schedule, not necessarily to arrive anywhere but just to see the landscapes and be on the way. It's too bad I've become so scared of driving. There are plenty of attractive and idyllic little villages on the way to Vienna on both sides of the border but now I will never be able to explore them because I am too scared to drive out of Prague. Especially because there is an on-going construction on the highway. It was a pain in the ass to sit in the bus for an hour and notice we had only moved some silly kilometers. Even though I must admit the road needs fixing really badly.

Got to love Austria for their interest in renewable energy; there were a lot of wind turbines to be seen on the way. I've heard some people don't like them because they are ugly. Well, we might all ask ourselves if Chernobyl inside a concrete shell is pretty? I think it was fun to see the wind turbines doing their thing. It becomes the landscape much better than a nuclear fallout.


The holiday itself was limited to eating, walking and eating because unfortunately Austria was closed for Easter. I participated in a guided walking tour and got to see the must-see things, e.g. the balcony from which Hitler informed his annexation of Austria. I also learned that before the world wars Austria had the fifth biggest navy in Europe. That's quite and achievement from a landlocked country which is known for its mountains, not for its lakes.

Spring has already arrived in the central Europe but the weekend was very windy and thus cold. Being outdoors didn't feel like such a good idea but I managed to take some photos and see some strange things:
What is this? A new way to deliver newspapers?

What what WHAT? The sign for pharmacy should be green, with a snake and a goblet?
On the way I was thinking how easy it is to move between countries in Europe. No passport control, no nothing. On the border there was an abandoned office, probably the old customs. Landscape and architecture didn't change. Actually, they don't change much from Gdansk to Vienna (yes, I once went from Gdansk to Prague by bus. 14 hours. OMG).
On the border you can find a shopping mall, casino, amusement park and many many other things

To put it short, if you are interested in culture, opera, history etc, Vienna is the place to go. Weekend travelers, consider yourselves warned, Sunday is not a business day and shops are closed. Because of religion. So there is still a spot on Earth that is not ruled by capitalism. Sunday was really quiet, it had kind of eerie end-of-the-world feeling, a handful of people staring at the shop windows longingly. Tap water is drinkable, it comes from the Austrian Alps.

On the way back to Prague I saw a really strange sight. There were grown up guys with decorated tree branches on the way. In Finland it is a tradition for kids to go from house to house on Palm Sunday with decorated willow tree branches to bring blessings to the house but that is not the only reason I was surprised to see the men. The real surprise was to see a guy with an entire small tree decorated with bras. Looking for a fertile summer, walking around with is 3 meters.something rod?

Pääsiäinen Itävallassa

Aurinko syttyi taivaalle kevään merkiksi ja tajusin, etten ole tehnyt juuri mitään niistä lukemattomista asioista, joita kuvittelin tekeväni, kun muutin Tsekkeihin. Päätin siis lopettaa jahkailemisen ja pääsiäisen pitkän viikonlopun ajaksi varasin miniloman Wieniin, koska se oli listaykköseni. Matka Prahasta Wieniin bussilla kestää nelisen tuntia, mikä ei Australian etäisyyksien jälkeen tunnu miltään. Ai että neljässä tunnissa voi matkustaa maasta toiseen? Vau, Australiassa jos matkustaa neljä tuntia on edelleen omalla takapihalla, eikä edes kovin kaukana päärakennuksesta.

Matkalla näkyi uusiutuvaa sähköntuotantoa
Tykkään käydä ajelulla. Anteeksi tämä epäekologinen ajatus, mutta minulla on välillä ikävä sitä, että voisi vaan hypätä autoon ja ajella jonnekin oman aikataulunsa mukaisesti, ei ehkä niinkään päästäkseen perille jonnekin kuin ihan vaan pelkästään siitä ilosta, että näkee maisemia. Harmi, että pelkään nykyisin autoilua niin, ettei tulisi mieleenkään lähteä Tsekin teille kokeilemaan. Matkalla oli upeita, idyllisiä pikku kyliä, joita en nyt sitten koskaan pääse näkemään ja kokemaan, kun en uskalla ajaa Prahasta ulos. Varsinkin, kun siellä on tietyömaa, tuonne Itävallan suuntaan mennessä. Oli rasittavaa istua pääsiäisen menoliikenteen ruuhkassa, vaikka pakko kyllä myöntää, että tie on aika kipeästi kunnostuksen tarpeessa. Joka tapauksessa tunnin ajan muutaman kilometrin matkaa junnatessa tuli mieleen Ismo Leikolan parodia "sisko tahtoisin mennä, mutta moottoritie on kesken".


Itävalta sai ensimäiset plus-pisteet tuulivoimalapelloistaan. Aivan mahtavaa, uusiutuvaa energiaa. Nämä tuulivoimalat jakaa jonkin verran mielipiteitä, koska jotkut ajattelevat, että ne on rumia. No, onko betonikuoreen valettu Tsernobyl sen kauniimpi? Omasta mielestäni tuulivoimaloiden touhuja oli kiva katsella bussin ikkunasta. Kyllä se aina radioaktiivisen laskeuman voittaa.


Itse loma Itävallassa kutistui muutamaan aktiviteettiin, koska valitettavasti Itävalta oli suljettu pääsiäiseksi. Menin opastetulle kävelykierrokselle about neljänkymmenen muun väärään aikaan Wieniin saapuneen turren kanssa. Kierros oli mielenkiintoinen ja näin kaikki tärkeimmät nähtävyydet vähällä vaivalla, esimerkisi parvekkeen, jolta Hitler ilmoitti Itävallan valloituksestaan. Opin myös sen, että ennen maailmansotia Itävallalla oli Euroopan viidenneksi suurin laivasto. Melkoinen saavutus maalta jolla ei ensinnäkään ole metriäkään omaa rantaviivaa ja toisekseen joka on lähinnä tunnettu vuorista eikä järvistä.

Kevät oli jo pitkällä keskellä Eurooppaa, mutta tuuli kävi kylmästi, eikä ulkoilu sen takia tuntunut kovin hauskalta, mutta kuljeskelin keskustan alueella ja kuvasin hienoja palatseja ja muutaman Itävallan erikoisuuden:
Mitä tämä tarkoittaa? Uusi tapa jakaa sanomalehdet?
Mitä mitä MITÄ, eikö apteekin merkin kuulu olla vihreä ja siinä on käärme ja pikari?
Matkalla tuli mieleen, miten helppoa Euroopassa on siirtyä maasta toiseen. Ei ole passimuodollisuuksia, vanha raja-asema näytti todella ränsistyneeltä ja suljetulta. Maasta toiseen siirtymistä ei huomannut muusta kuin siitä, että opastekyltit alkoivat olla saksaksi. Arkkitehtuuri ja maisemat säilyvät samana, oman kokemukseni mukaan itse asiassa Gdanskista Wieniin asti. (Kyllä, menin joskus bussilla Gdanskista Prahaan, 14 tuntia. Herrajestas.)
Raja-alueella voi shoppailla, käydä kasinolla ja leikkipuistoissa yms
Okei, tiivistettynä: Wien on kiva turrekohde kulttuurista, taiteista ja oopperasta sun muusta kiinnostuneille, mutta viikonloppumatkailijan kannattaa huomioida, että sunnuntaisin Itävalta on kiinni, koska katolilaisuus. On siis vielä olemassa maa, jossa kapitalismi ei päätä kaikesta. Sunnuntai oli tosi hiljainen, kaupungissa oli vähän maailmanlopun tunnelmaa, kun harvat ihmiset kävelivät kaupungilla töllistelemässä suljettuja kauppoja. Vesijohtovesi on juomakelpoista ja mainittakoon, että se tulee Alpeilta asti.

Paluumatkalla Tsekin puolella näin aikuisia ukkoja virpomassa. Ihan totta, niillä oli värikkäillä nauhoilla koristeltuja oksia. Yhdellä oli itse asiassa kokonainen pieni puunrunko ja siinä roikkui rintaliivejä. Hedelmällinen kesä tulossa tälle monimetrisen vapansa kanssa liehujalle?


sunnuntai 4. maaliskuuta 2018

The short history of sauna

I didn't mean to write anything this weekend but just this morning I was leafing through my notebook for an entirely different reason and happened to find a plan on the series of postings about Finland I was supposed to write last summer. But hey, things happen when the time is right and the starts are perfectly aligned and it happens to be now. So I decided to write about sauna. BTW did  you know the word sauna is actually Finnish? One of the handful of Finnish words that ever made it to Oxford dictionary of English. While sauna as a word was adopted to many other languages to describe a certain type of heated bath, the concept is not unique to Finland, no matter how much we hope it was. In fact many cultures in the northern areas of the globe. Russians and Swedes have sauna. So do some native American tribes (even though their saunas were used for spiritual purposes rather than just washing). 

The history of sauna in Finland can be traced back to at least Bronze Age, to times B.C. The original sauna was a pit dug in the ground with a fireplace at the bottom for heating stones. The pit was then covered with furs, birch bark or turf. When water was thrown on the heated stones, vapor was created. Basically, that is what sauna is. A hot room full of steam for sweating. After pits in the ground fell out of fashion, saunas used to be small huts built of wood inside which stones were heated by burning wood for several hours. Note that there was no chimney to let the smoke out, as was the case for mot houses in the middle ages and even until the beginning of 20th century. Nowadays saunas are rooms with wooden walls that have either a wood burning small stove-like thing for heating the stones or an electric devise for heating the stones. Probably the only electric devise you can safely throw water on.

Sauna is and has always been an important feature in the culture. Not so long ago, less than a century, most Finns were born in a sauna due to it being the most sterile and clean space available for such purposes. Most Finns also exited their life on Earth through sauna as it was a place to wash the deceased before burial. Between the birth and death sauna served as a sick room and sometimes the only remedy know for hordes of ailments. There is a saying "if sauna, booze and tar doesn't help, the illness is lethal". While research cannot show reliable evidence of a magical positive impact on health, sauna is a place for relaxation and it is considered refreshing. Plus it cleanses skin from microbes far better than a shower or a bath.

In Finland it is customary to go to sauna completely nude, an idea people not used to this idea sometimes find intimidating. Overnight guests in Finland are quite often offered sauna, and even some businesses offer sauna to their business partners e.g. after negotiations. I remember one workplace team building in sauna. Now, if you happen to be in Finland and receive an invitation to sauna, don't panic. While stripping and going to a naked sauna with people you have never seen, have just met or are friends with but not that close friends, doesn't probably sound like the ultimate fun, it is an experience, so why not give it a go? Admittedly it might not sound like a comfortable idea.

Sometimes people are worried the others will stare or otherwise make the feel ill at ease. Well, if you have a clearly visible scar or a strange birthmark or something like that, I cannot guarantee that people will not be curious. We are all humans and stop being curious the day we stop breathing but curious doesn't mean the same as malicious. And it will very likely not be the first scar or peculiar birthmark people used to sauna culture will see. Which leads me to one more positive aspect of sauna: realistic body image. The image they feed us through fashion, movies, etc is so very unrealistic. Yet it is a powerful factor in making people ashamed of their bodies and  feeling uncomfortable in their own skin. Perfect bodies and perfect skin without a trace of pores and cellulite requires a lot of work- on computer. Most of us have birthmarks, moles, scars, most women, even thin women, have cellulite, and when we age skin starts to sag, body becomes less firm and that is natural. And as an ending remark, even though people go to sauna naked it is not associated with sex. It's associated with washing.


tiistai 27. helmikuuta 2018

The magical 30

This week I will turn 30, the magical age. Some time ago I read an article about things people would have liked to know about being an adult before they grew up, and I decided to add my own thoughts ti this topic. I suppose there never was a kid who wasn't eager to grow up but is being an adult as fun as kids seem to think? Let us see..

"When I am adult I can and I am allowed to do what I want to do". Hell no. If I could do whatever I wanted, I would be on a sandy beach drinking passion fruit margaritas. Theoretically speaking I am allowed to do that but I cannot, because I don't have time or money, especially not at the same time. It would have been nice to be warned that most of grown up life is full of compulsory things. I have to go to work, work, go home, do grocery shopping, cook dinner, prepare lunch, take a shower, do laundry etc. After all that, it's usually 6 or 7 o'clock and having been up about 12 hours I cannot find any strength to do anything I would choose to do. It's the same with money. I wish I had known that most of income goes to compulsory things, bills that have to be paid, other necessary expenses and after that there is very little to use for the things I would choose to use my money for. All in all, I guess I was a happier person before I had to take the sole responsibility for my own life and finances and I still had time for friends and hobbies and things that bring joy to life. Now I just work.

Dream job. What the fuck is a dream job? Probably the biggest myth of childhood just after Santa. Yes, I had plenty of dream jobs, such as teacher (kids are shit annoying), doctor (I am scared of seeing blood), flight attendant (motion sickness) etc. I wonder what happened to the ease with which I approached selecting my dream job. Now everything about the job market seems complicated. How can I know what I want to do when I am 40? Should I just have one job I want to do until I retire, why wouldn't I be allowed to change? I guess many people just end up doing something completely else that what they dreamed of doing. Sometimes you just have to compromise. Maybe what you do is not your dream but it gets the bills paid and bills are sure to come whether you are employed or not, so better just do something to earn my own money.

When you are adult you are going to own a house and a car and so on. Yes, you can probably own all kind of nice things but most of them come saddled with loan installments to pay and complete lack of freedom and flexibility.

When I am adult I can stay up all night. Sure I can but it's difficult to stay up late. When I am adult I can eat as much candy as I want to. Now we have found something interesting. Sure I can eat lots and lots of candy, and no one can tell me chocolate is not breakfast, but my boring alter ego tells me not to, because after all, chocolate is not a healthy breakfast. The kid me would not have cared but the adult me reminds me of the positive health effects of oatmeal.

I wish somebody had also warned me how quickly aging starts to feel in the body. If I sit for a long time, my legs gets numb and start swelling, all kinds of pains and aches appear. There will be problems with sleeping and blood pressure, there will be a lurking heart condition and the cholesterol level will be too high. Metabolism starts to slow down and I cannot eat dessert anymore because my belly is already sitting on my lap.

Some years ago I talked about being grown up with my friend and we both agreed that we had no idea it was going to be so difficult. All the decisions are mine to make and responsibilities are mine to bear and there is no guarantee I will make good decisions and no one else to blame if they are bad. At the worst life is just achieving and even at the best it's still full of joyless things. Don't grow up, it's a trap.

Maaginen 30

Tällä viikolla tulee täyteen maaginen 30 vuotta. Joku aika sitten luin artikkelin aiheesta "mitä olisin halunnut tietää aikuiseksi kasvamisesta". Ei varmaa ole olemassakaan kersaa, joka ei haluaisi jo olla aikuinen, mutta onko aikuisena sittenkään niin mukava olla? Tässä pari ajatusta siitä, mitä itse olisin halunnut tietää aikuisena olosta etukäteen.

Sitten kun olen aikuinen voin ja saan tehdä mitä halua- no en hel-vetissä voi tehdä mitä haluan. Jos voisin tehdä mitä haluan, olisin tälläkin hetkellä aurinkoisella palmurannalla juomassa passionhedelmämargaritoja. Siis kukaanhan ei voi estää minua lähtemästä palmurannalle, eli saisin kyllä tehdä mitä haluan, mutta en voi, koska ei ole aikaa eikä ole rahaa. Ylipäänsä, olisi ollut kiva tietää etukäteen, kuinka suuri osa aikuisen ajasta ja rahasta menee tämän paskakarusellin pyörittämiseen, jota arjeksi kutsutaan. Menen töihin, teen töitä, tulen kotiin, käyn suihkussa, laitan ruokaa, pesen pyykkiä, käyn kaupassa jne. Sitten kello onkin jo kuusi tai seitsemän, eikä aloitekyky yksinkertaisesti riitä mihinkään, mitä itse haluaisin tehdä. Sama juttu rahan kanssa. Suurin osa palkasta menee kaikkeen, mistä on pakko maksaa, eikä siitä sen jälkeen paljon jää käteen niihin asioihin, joihin itse haluaisin rahaa käyttää. Kaiken kaikkiaan, sanoisin, että ennen kuin kaikki tämä vastuu kaatui omille hartioilleni, olin onnellisempi ihminen, jolla oli aikaa ystäville ja harrastuksille ja muille asioille, joista sai iloa. Nyt ei ole aikaa kuin toimistolle.

Toiveammatti- mikä v*tun toiveammattti? Tässä on lapsuuden suurin myytti heti joulupukin jälkeen. Toki minulla oli toiveammatti, montakin, kuten opettaja (kersat on kamalia), lääkäri (pelkään verta), lentoemäntä (matkapahoinvointi) jne. Miten ihmeessä ammattin valitseminen saattoi joskus kuulostaa helpolta jutulta, että sitä vaan automaattisesti tietäisi, mitä haluaa tehdä eläkeikään asti. Ja vaikka olisi tiennytkin, ei ole mitään takeita siitä, että valitulla alalla riittäisi töitä. Uskoisin, että monet ovat huomanneet ajautuvansa tekemään ihan muuta kun unelmahommaa, koska kuten kohdassa yksi oli puhetta, menoja riittää, vaikka ei olisi tulojakaan. Joskus vaan täytyy tehdä kompromisseja ja tehdä sitä työtä, mitä sattuu löytämään. Ja ylipäänsä, mikä on tämä ajatus siitä, että olisi yksi unelma-ammatti? Ei sitä välttämättä nelikymppisenä halua enää samaa mitä parikymppisenä silloin, kun haetaan tutkintoja suorittamaan. No, leipä on terveellistä, kunhan nyt jotain tekee tilinsä eteen.

Kun on aikuinen, on oma auto ja oma talo jne. Voi olla, mutta se tulee tuntuvan asunto- ja autolainan kera ja sinne se elämän joustavuus sitten häviää lainanlyhennysten sekaan ikään kuin sitä ei olisi koskaan ollutkaan.

Kun on aikuinen saa valvoa niin myöhään kun haluaa. Ihan varmasti saa, mutta eipä jaksa. Ja saa syödä karkkia ihan millon haluaa. No, tässä on kyllä hyvä pointti, kellään ei ole vara tulla sanomaan, että suklaa ei kelpaa aamupalaksi. Sen sijaan näin aikuisena omatunto kyllä soimaisi moisesta terveellisen ruokavalion ylenkatsomisesta, kersana ei olisi ollut omatunto moisesta millänsäkään. Nykyisin kaurapuuro kuuluu aamupalalle ja sillä hyvä.

Olisipa joku kertonut senkin, miten nopeasti ikääntyminen alkaa tuntua kropassa. Jos istuu pitkään, raajat kangistuu ja jalat turpoaa ja tulee kaikenlaisia kolotuksia ja jomotuksia. Tulee uniongelmia, tulee sydänvaivoja, kolesteroliakin varmaan ja ainakin verenpaine reistaa. Eikä aineenvaihduntakaan ole enää niin nopea kuin muutama vuosi sitten, nykyään joutuu jo harkitsemaan haluaako sittenkään jälkiruokaa, kun sen alkaa näkyä vyötäröllä ja mahanpullukka istuu sylissä.

Joskus vuosia sitten juttelin kaverin kanssa aikuisena olosta ja kumpikin tultiin siihen tulokseen, että kunpa olisi sillon lapsena tiennyt, miten vaikeaa on olla aikuinen. Kaikki päätökset ja vastuu on itsellä, eikä ole mitään takeita siitä, että tekee hyviä päätöksiä, eikä ketään jota voisi syyttää, jos tekee huonoja. Sen lisäksi elämä on pahimmillaan pelkkää suorittamista ja parhaimillaankin liian täynnä asioita, joista ei saa minkäänlaista iloa vaikka miltä kantilta katsoisi. Kaikenkaikkiaan aikuisuus on ansa, älä kasva isoksi!


lauantai 17. helmikuuta 2018

The world came into being from an egg of a bird

Hello readers, this week's topic is Finland again. My life is so uneventful that there is nothing to write about it, unless you want to read a painfully detailed description of how I process invoices every day. I guess not.. 28th of February is the day of Kalevala (national epic of Finland ) and Finnish culture, so I decided to write a bit about Kalevala and the strange and unique beliefs our ancestors had.

As s short intro to Kalevala, it is a collection of poems an aspiring doctor called Elias Lönnrot assembled in 19th century. He wandered on foot through Karelia and Viena area in search of original poetry that was very typical in Finland and Karelia until the arrival of Christianity, after which the tradition started to disappear as the church did not approve of such heretic stories as can be found in Kalevala. (In this modern era one might question this censure of the poems as the themes are relatively harmless- until we remember the story of Marjatta which I will introduce later on.) Most of Kalevala is based on ancient poems but about 3% comes from Lönnrot's imagination. He wanted the poems to be written down as a complete story with complete plot, which meant that in some places he had to step in to fill voids in the storyline.

The oldest poems are said to date back 3000 years and the newest ones appeared about the time Christianity arrived to the area. They are a mix of songs and poems in trochaic tetrameter, also known as the Kalevala metre. To put the explanation short, 8 syllables are needed to express one idea or verse "va-kaa van-ha väi-nä-möi-nen". Maybe you can imagine the agony of teenagers when they have to read Kalevala in Finnish language and literature class. I tried but it is absolutely too difficult because the language is outdated and because not all the words conform with Kalevala metre no matter how much you wish them to. When Lönnrot was compiling the poems he sometimes added or dropped syllables or letters to make the words fit in and in some parts the result is a disaster. And still, around 2% of the content of Kalevala breaks this rule of 8 syllables for one idea. But now more about the poems themselves.

Creation myth 

The Bible says "in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth" but as we all know there are more explanations than this one. After all, people have always felt the need to explain how we ended up on this planet that is speeding through the vast emptiness of space and never arriving anywhere. Up there in the north people came up with the idea that everything originated from an egg of a bird that belongs to genus aythya. Now, there are many species belonging to that genus but as our ancestors apparently didn't deem it important to report the exact species but referred to it by the generic term for that kind of diving ducks, I will not start guessing either. (At least I think it wasn't reported but then again I didn't read the whole Kalevala.) So the next time you are having bacon and eggs for breakfast, just remember you might be in the process of destroying a future universe that didn't have enough time to be hatched before it ended up on the plate.

The story of Sampo

Sampo in Kalevala is a magical machine of undetermined type that produces gold, flour and salt for its owner. There are many "deep" explanations as to what Sampo actually is (world pillar, world tree etc) but it is perhaps most commonly recognized as a mill that grinds riches. It was created by a skilled blacksmith Ilmarinen for the evil queen Louhi (the whore of the story who gets impregnated by the wind, the waves and what not except for a man) in exchange for her daughter's hand in marriage. The evil queen took Sampo but refused to give her daughter to Ilmarinen after all. The reason why I wanted to introduce Sampo is the nowadays somewhat peculiar things it makes. Gold flour and salt. Wouldn't it be handier if it just generated money, low-risk-high-return on investment shares and interest-free mortgages? Or fast cars, luxury boats and expensive jewelry? But the story of Kalevala originated in archaic agricultural society where people probably were hoping to have their daily bread provided without having to toil the earth sweating in their dirty shirts during the short Nordic summer. Can't blame them for hoping.

The story of Aino

In the end Aino died. She was the only girl of her family and unlucky enough to have a very competitive brother who challenged old wise man Väinämöinen for a sword fight. Väinämöinen didn't want to fight with swords but suggested a contest of casting spells (!). The story ended with Väinämöinen singing Joukahainen into a mire and Joukahainen promising his only sister to Väinämöinen as long as the older man released him from the mire. Väinämöinen was as old as the world itself and Aino was a young girl. Fearing her faith she drowned herself in a lake and turned into a fish. Can't blame her either. Aino is a common name in Finland these days, however it is said the girl in Kalevala might not have had a name after all but she was referred to as "aino tyttö" (the only girl) and later on Lönnrot gave her the name when he started to spell it with capital letter.

The story of Marjatta

The story of Marjatta is short and scary. One day she went to the forest, found a lingonberry, ate it and the berry made her pregnant. Beware, ladies, if you go picking lingonberries it is not just wolves and bears you should be afraid of. Of course you might always contradict the story and say that Marjatta came up with this lingonberry theory to dupe e.g. her parents and that there was an actual guy involved in Marjatta's "oops" moment. Her parents being old and having forgotten the act then swallowed the little lie their daughter spun and saw her pregnancy as something else than the accident is was. Or whatever. Marjatta's story is one of the new poems of Kalevala and she is interpreted as the Virgin Mary of the north, giving birth to a son in a stable and so on.

These were just some examples of traditional Finnish story-telling. When Kalevala was first published, it served as means to awaken the national spirit and became the cornerstone of national identity. It has served as inspiration to artists of all fields. The importance of Kalevala can still be seen in Finland e.g. in people's names. Aino, Ilmari, Sampo, and Marjatta are all names that are used today and there is name Väinö that could be related to Väinämöinen. Also, we have Sampo bank and a construction firm Lemminkäinen. (Lemminkäinen was Kalevala's general good-for-nothing guy tempted by ladies and war. In the end he is killed and the body chopped to pieces. His mother retrieves him from the underworld and brings him back to life. Why, it is a mystery to me. Who can understand a mother's heart except another mother and luckily I am no one's mother. :)

lauantai 10. helmikuuta 2018

Rye bread and Fazer blue

I booked a flight ticket to Finland in winter, can you imagine. See you in March, folks! My original plan was to go to Greece but can you believe, I did not want to. I didn't want it at all. I read an article about travel burn out and realized that is what I am suffering from. I just cannot muster up enough interest towards Greece right now. I am sure it is an amazing place and some day I will definitely go there. When my mood is better and I can actually enjoy the trip. So I booked a flight to Finland cause that is where rye bread is. And oh yes, my family is there, too.

I feel ashamed to confess that food was an important motivator in choosing to go to Finland. I am not saying there is something wrong with Czech food but there is also no rye bread No Karelian pastries, no mämmi even though Easter is coming. Even chocolate doesn't satisfy the craving. Ever since I booked my ticket in January I've been calling Mom pretty much every second day to add a dish on my meal wish list. She keeps scribbling down the notes and last time informed me "there are 8 main courses now on the list, so are you planning to do something else than eat on the holiday or not?" Hell no. And I will fill my suitcase with 20 delicious kilos of domestic delicacies. In Prague I will buy an enormous freezer and stuff it with Vaasa rye bread.

Sometime during my studies we had intercultural communication lessons and one of the topics was missing home but it turned into missing food. Most foreign students told they missed the food they were used to eating. It does matter what you eat. When I was an exchange student in South Korea I also noticed I missed some dishes I wouldn't have touched in Finland. Like smoked salmon I used to blame for headache, fish soup and other strange things I never cooked and only ate if there was no choice.

During past 6 months here in Czech Republic I have constantly felt an empty hole in my poor belly that only rye bread could fill. Missing rye bread drains the life force out of me so better go to Finland for a hearty meal. Finnish food is not so well-known or well liked abroad (after all, it's not sushi or pho) because in all honesty it is weird. Nevertheless I decided to write a post about some dishes I miss, and probably other Finns abroad miss, too.

1. Rye bread. Not even Sweden can offer the same, even though their rye bread is not bad at all compared to the stuff other European countries try to pass as rye bread and sell to unsuspecting consumers. Trust me, the only rye in that bread is written on the package.
A breakfast that is not going to leave you feeling sad and hungry
2. Fazer's blue chocolate (no, it is not the chocolate that is blue, it got its name because of the blue wrapping) Yes, many people miss this stuff and now I am part of that group of desperately sugar-deprived poor devils. (I guess choco gods heard my bitter sighs, when I went to peel an orange in the kitchen my roommate offered me some chocolate and to my surprise and joy it was Fazer's blue. Her friend had brought it from Finland.)

3. Coffee. Some foreigners have insultingly called it tea because it is weak, watery like brew compared to espresso-style coffees. Finnish coffee must be drank from a Moomin mug or at least from a mug that is Iittala or Arabia.
Spooky coffee
 4. Karelian pastries. Dubbed as "the most pussy-looking food on Earth". When I go to Finland, I will bake heaps of them. Baking them is not technically very challenging but they need a very high temperature to bake, otherwise they will become chewy. Don't think anything else than wood-burning oven is strong enough to handle them. Or so I have been told.

5. Mämmi. (If Karelian pastries look like pussy, this delicious dessert looks like it was already eaten once.) I suggested Mom she could buy some for Christmas but she refused because "girl, mämmi is an Easter dish, they'd think I've lost my last marble were I to go to any grocery store to ask for mämmi just before Christmas".
Mämmi..
6. Salmiakki. Well, strictly speaking it is not food, because it is liquorice spiced with ammonium chloride. Anyway, I miss it. It's a great pity my roommate's friend didn't understand to bring this from Finland. Or maybe that was the good deed of the day, because consuming salmiakki is known to make blood pressure rise and cause unpleasant palpitations somewhere in the vicinity of heart. For example, salmiakki never made it to Japan because the country's health officials labeled it "unsafe to be consumed by humans". Make your own decision about touching this stuff. You have been warned.
Candy in Finland
7. Berries. Blueberries, gooseberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, currants. Last night I dreamed of sitting in our garden, vigilantly keeping an eye on the currants, waiting for them to ripen before my outbound flight. A very true situation in the real world, too. For years I have missed the gooseberry and currant season because the stubborn berries want to stay green and bitter. Based on that dream I assume food is becoming an obsession.

There are many more things I would like to add to the list but I must stop writing because thinking about food causes a psychological hunger that has nothing to do with actually needing to eat. And guess what happens if you eat when you are not really hungry? Yes, you'll get fat. That is exactly what is going to happen to me on my holiday.

Ruisleipää ja Fazerin sinistä

Varasin talvilomareissun Suomeen, voitteko kuvitella. Maaliskuussa sitten nähdään. Alunperin ajatus oli mennä Kreikkaan, mutta tässä toinen voitteko kuvitella. Ei huvittanut. Ei yhtään huvittanut. Luin, että jos on jatkuvasti reissun päällä, voi tulla matka-burn out, jonka oireista tunnistin itseni ihan täysin. Ei vaan jaksa kiinnostaa. Kreikka on varmasti ihan mahtava paikka, mutta haluan mennä siine joskus myöhemmin, kun toivottavasti olen parantunut matkaväsymyksestäni niin, että pystyn oikeasti nauttimaan Kreikka-kokemuksestani. Joten varasin lennon Suomeen, koska siellä on ruisleipää ja Fazerin sinistä. Niin, ja perheenikin on siellä. 

Hävettää tunnustaa, että yksi suurimmista motivaattoreista varata lippu Suomeen oli ruoka. Ei sillä, että Tsekin ruuassa olisi mitään vikaa, mutta kun ei ole ruisleipää. Eikä karjalanpiirakoita, ja suklaakin on epätyydyttävää, eikä ole mämmiä, vaikka pääsiäinen on tulossa. Siitä asti, kun varasin lennon, olen ilmoittanut äidille noin joka päivä jonkun uuden ruuan, jota haluan syödä sitten, kun menen Suomeen. Äiti kirjoitti menua tunnollisesti ylös ja totesi "tämä on nyt kahdeksas asia listalla, sinä et sitten vissiin muuta meinaa tehdä lomalla kun syödä" tai jotakin sinne päin. No en meinannu, en. Ja matkalaukussa vien 20 kiloo kotimaisia elintarvikkeita mukanani Tsekkiin, ostan arkkupakastimen ja täytän sen Vaasan ruispaloilla. 

Joskus amkissa kulttuuritunneilla oli teemana se, mitä vaihtarit ja ulkomaalaiset tutkinto-opiskelijat kaipasivat kotimaastaan, ja melkein jokainen kaipasi ruokaa. Ei se ole ihan sama, mitä syö, kertoo tämä tutkimustulos. Itse huomasin Etelä-Koreassa opiskellessa, että aloin kaipaamaan ruokia, joihin en Suomessa halunnut koskea pitkällä tikullakaan. Esimerkiksi savulohi, jota olin koko elämäni syyttänyt päänsäryn aiheuttajaksi, alkoi yhtäkkiä vaikuttaa ruoka-unelmien täyttymykseltä. Ja kalasoppa. Ja moni muu asia, joita ei koskaan Suomessa ollessa tullut edes mieleen syödä. 

Etenkin nyt tämän puolen vuoden aikana Tsekeissä olen huomannut, miten kovasti kaipaan ruisleipää. Tuntuu, että vatsaparassa on jatkuvasti pieni ruisleivän kokoinen lovi, jota ei mikään muu ruoka pysty täyttämään. Ruisleivän puuttuminen alkaa jo syödä elinvoimaa, joten on parempi mennä täydentämään varastoja. Suomalainen ruoka ei maailmalla ole erityisen tunnettua, eikä varmaan kauhean pidettyäkään, koska se on kauniisti sanottuna ainutlaatuista ja realistisesti sanottuna omituista. Siitä huolimatta päätin omistaa postauksen oudoille ruuille, joita tämä ulkosuomalainen ja varmaan muutkin samassa tilanteessa olevat kaipaavat. 

1. Ruisleipä. Koska surullinen fakta on se, että samanlaista ruisleipää ei saa edes Ruotsista, vaikka onhan naapurienkin ruisleipä sentään parempaa kuin se, mitä manner-Euroopassa ruisleipänä myyvät, ja jossa on ruista eniten nimessä. 
Kunnon aamiainen, josta ei tule paha mieli

2. Fazerin sininen. Kyllä, suklaatakin olen kuullut usean kaipaavan. Nykyisin kuulun itsekin tähän makeanhimoisten surulliseen ryhmään. (Varmaan joku kuuli katkerat huokaukseni, äsken kun kävelin keittiöön kuorimaan appelsiinia, kämppikseni siellä tarjosi suklaata ja kuinka suunnaton olikaan onni ja ilo, kun se sattui olemaan Fazerin sinistä. Joku oli sitä asioikseen Suomesta tuonut.)

3. Suomalainen kahvi. Jota ulkomaalaiset ovat teeksikin haukkuneet, se kun tuppaa olemaan hieman laimeampaa kuin espresso-tyyppiset kahvit. Ja kahvi tulee tietenkin juoda Muumi-mukista. Tai jostain muusta kotimaisesta kupista. 
Mörön makuista kahvia
4. Karjalanpiirakat. Maailman todennäköisesti roisimman näköinen leivonnainen. Kunhan Suomeen menen, näitä urakalla leivon ja syön. Karjalanpiirakoiden tekeminen ei sinällään ole teknisesti kovin vaikeaa, mutta sähköuuni ei välttämättä kuumene tarpeeksi. Piirakat vaatii kovan lämpötilan, ettei niistä tule sitkeitä kuin tossunpohjasta. Näin ainakin kerrotaan. 

5. Mämmi. (Jos karjalan piirakat näyttää eräältä toiselta piirakalta, niin mämmi näyttää siltä, että se on jo kerran syöty) Yritin ehdottaa äidille, että olisi ostanut jouluksi mämmiä, mutta ideani tyrmättiin, "koska nyt on joulu ja mämmi on pääsiäisruokaa ja johan minua hulluna pidettäisiin, jos joulun alla mämmiä kyselisin kaupasta". 

Mämmiä...
6. Salmiakki. Se nyt ei ole ruoka, koska se on ammoniumkloridilla maustettua lakritsia, mutta sitäkin on ikävä. Harmi, ettei kämppikseni kaveri tätä ymmärtänyt tuoda. Tai ehkä ihan hyvä vaan, salmiakin väärinkäyttö nostaa verenpainetta ja aiheuttaa epämiellyttävää läpätystä sydämen alueella. Esimerkiksi Japaniin salmiakki ei  rantaunut, koska maan elintarvikeviranomaiset pitivät sitä ihmisravinnoksi kelpaamattomana. Jokainen voi miettiä omalta osaltaan, kannattaako siihen koskea. 


7. Marjat. Mustikat, puolukat, karviaiset, viinimarjat, karpalot, lakat. Näin viime yönä unta, että istuin meidän puutarhassa kyttäämässä viinimarjojen kypsymistä, toivoin, että ne kypsyisivät, ennen kuin lentoni lähtee, mutta ne pysyivät sinnikkäästi raakileina. Tuttu toive myös valveilla olevassa maailmassa. Olen jäänyt paitsi karviaisten sadosta jo monena vuonna. Ja ruoka on ilmeisesti muodostamassa pienehköksi pakkomielteeksi. 

Eikä se lista tähän lopu, mutta kirjoittaminen loppuu, koska tällainen ruuasta puhuminen aiheuttaa psykologisen nälän, joka johtaa ihmisen syömään, vaikka ei oikeasti tarvitsisi ja tiedättekös miten sitten käy. Niin, sitten lihoo. Niin kuin minulle tulee käymään tulevalla lomallani. 

lauantai 3. helmikuuta 2018

What is life like in Czech Republic

I recently remembered that I have a blog and I should write about something at last, but it is difficult to find anything to write about because, let's face it, life is boring me to tears right now. I don't have anything to tell except fairy tales and fantasy. In addition it is still winter (very unfortunately) and I cannot find motivation to do anything except huddle under a blanket and drink hot drinks. Sun has probably already died, at least it hasn't made an appearance recently. I didn't remember that winter is this depressing and long, and I cannot find anything good to say about it no matter how hard I try. Makes me wonder why did I ever leave sunny Queensland. Anyway, let's take a cup of coffee and talk a bit.
TV tower was not designed to be beautiful 
Let's leave winter aside, I wanted to write about what is life like in Prague. One thing that surprised me is Czech people's readiness to use English, especially on the service sector. Well, there is a lot of tourism here. Especially in restaurants and coffee shops it's no problem to find someone who speaks English. And even if they don't, friendly local people sometimes translate. Once I was stuck at the counter in a grocery store. I have company lunch vouchers on a "debit card" but the card is so clever it will know if I try to buy something that is not food. Usually the cashier will tell me some part of the payment was rejected and I will say in my nearly fluent Czech "other card" and pay the rest with my real debit card. But this time the cashier started to explain some sort of long story, could have been about her life, I didn't get anything. I tried to tell "other card" but got nowhere until another customer stepped in and explained the cashier I wanted to pay the rest from my account. Thank you, friendly people!

When I was moving into my apartment with 2 big pieces of luggage, I got stuck between the metro doors (yeah, it is possible). One suitcase was in the train, the other was on the platform and the doors kept biting me. Fellow passengers forced the doors to open, pulled my luggage and myself safely into the train and completely sympathized with my terrible experience of being harassed by a subway train.
Odd spot- Prague metronome
Lately I have been analyzing pretty much everything and everyone in my life, what I would like to do and what constitutes a "good life" for me. I haven been thinking whether I am a city person or a country girl. I believe I am more a city person because of the opportunities only cities can offer. More jobs, more culture, more hobbies. Recently I booked a ceramics class. I doubt I could have been able to find an English-speaking class outside of the city. Same goes for my Spanish class. But there is one thing I hate about city and that is that there is a queue everywhere. In our corner store. The aisles are really narrow and really packed. In a clothing store. At least 5 customers are pulling the same dress from the hanger. Living expenses are painfully high and it takes forever to get from point A to point B. And sometimes I just miss the peace and quiet of countryside. Maybe I will buy a vineyard in a Spanish village. You can always dream.
Things a city can offer- art galleries, museums, culture
And finally something bizarre and something scary. The scary thing is traffic, which is somewhat too aggressive for my tastes. Even in the city it seems to be compulsory to drive at least 100 kilometers per hour and naturally pedestrian crossing is just an empty word. I am scared. The bizarre and annoying thing is allowing dogs every-fucking-where. Even in restaurants, which is disgusting and ruins the appetite. Never mind dogs are said to be a man's best friend but they could wait outside. And why should they be allowed in shopping malls, it's not like they are going to buy anything anyway?